Lou Reed – Growing Up In Public

I wouldn’t say you are wrong, but I beg to disagree. The production is weird. Very unclear which musical vision was the guideline here. But I find the lyrics about his father and the singing very dedicated. I love the album with all it’s shortcomings.

This is a weird album--a snapshot of one of those rare moments in time when Lou Reed simply had nothing to say. Contractually obligated to crank out another album, he wrote a cycle of odd, largely fictitious lyrics about the lingering conflict between an adult male and his parents, pairing those songs with a few halfhearted valentines to his new wife Sylvia. Like I said, it's a weird album. You can tell that Lou was unhappy with the end result, because when he returned two years later with "The Blue Mask" (a career highpoint), he had completely overhauled his approach both musically and lyrically.

First-rate guitarist Chuck Hammer is wasted, since Lou himself handled the album's one memorable lead break (on 'My Old Man,' which also happens to be the only song on which some authentic human feeling is evident). Too bad. "Growing Up in Public" is listenable, but not especially likable.